Tramping, it's not what you think...

I did my first trip with the Wellington Tramping (kiwi for hiking and backpacking) and Mountaineering Club a few weekends ago. I was intimidated going in, since I'd been warned how seriously hiking is taken here. Most people are in amazing condition and spend their lunch hours running uphills around the city -- I stick to the flat waterfront. At the first WTMC meeting I attended one of the members gave a slide show of her trip to Antartica, which was amazing, but more physically demanding that what your average human can do.

The trip turned out to be great. We went to Mt. Ruapehu -- the tallest mountain on the North Island and an active volcano. We stayed in the WTMCs lodge perched up on the hill close to ski lifts which are very popular in the winter. It was a nice group of international trampers from all over -- Peru, Israel, China, Scotland, Ireland and NZ.

The first day we attempted a walk out to Tama lakes in a valley below the mountain, but had to turn around 2/3 of the way because of rain. We spent the afternoon at hotsprings instead. I ran into one of the other Fulbright fellows there -- more proof that NZ is the size of a postage stamp!

The second day was perfectly clear and made it all worthwhile. I got up the courage to hike with the "medium" group. We took the chairlifts as far as they went and walked up to the skyline for amazing views.


Going up Mt. Ruapehu